


what we got

by kenmahinatas



Series: i'll see you in the morning [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Explicit Language, Harassment, M/M, Paparazzi, Stalking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-07-20 03:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7388149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenmahinatas/pseuds/kenmahinatas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>how a series of pictures launched kagakuro into popularity and ultimately led them to become the nation's otp</p><p>(aka self indulgence and personal wish fulfillment bc no one else is going to do it for me)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. how it began

**Author's Note:**

> so this is set in the same universe as "love you til your eyes roll back", (and i guess "for curiosity's sake" bc i'm using the same ocs as kagami's teammates) a couple months before and holy shit you guys, i'm kind of completely in love with this universe???

"-and Carmen, you said you had something good for us today?"

“Mark, oh my God. I am not exaggerating when I say that this is one of the best finds of the year!"

"You have us on the edge of our seats, but it's going to have to wait until after our commercial break. See you in a few!"

The two hosts smiled at the camera brightly as the screen faded into a commercial about life insurance. Kagami furrowed his brow through a mouthful of cereal, wondering why the hell he felt compelled to watch this show every morning. He hated morning talk shows with a burning, and yet here he was.

Kuroko, a sleepy mess of hair and oversized clothing next to him, paid no heed to the show or his internal struggle. Instead, he steadfastly ate spoonfuls of cereal set on ignoring Kagami and the world until he felt more like a human being. Kagami smirked and pressed a kiss to the top of Kuroko's head who only grunted and returned it with a loving smack to Kagami's face.

And was it weird that Kagami found that adorable instead of insulting or hurtful? Kuroko was always the cutest when he was irritated and hungover, and holy hell, did the team throw them a party to end all parties last night. Kuroko never had the highest tolerance in the first place and V forced him into having one too many shots of tequila. Kagami would not be lying if he said that he had to carry Kuroko out of the club last night.

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko said, baleful and sleepy.

Kagami winced; whenever Kuroko reverted back to his last name it always spelled bad things for him.

"Your friends are no longer allowed to throw parties. I am going to die."

Kagami snorted into his cereal, unabashedly laughing. Kuroko leveled him a severe look that radiated of displeasure, but Kagami only smiled and took Kuroko's hand from across their dinner table face set in a parody of placating.

"I'll be sure to tell the guys," he assured, amused but knowing that when it came time for another party, Kuroko would be singing the same tune come the next morning.

Which, thinking about it now, made him sound like some kind of alcoholic. Kuroko just liked to party - more than anyone had realized - it was one of the more adorable things about him, if Kagami was speaking frankly. Kuroko's glare didn't lessen any in intensity, but he did squeeze Kagami's hand back and they settled back into their breakfasts. The moment was interrupted by Kagami's hated morning show coming back on with its obnoxious for 6AM jingle. Strangely enough, the creepy, plastic smiles the hosts usually had looked even creepier than before.

"Welcome back, folks! Now Carmen, I've been dying to talk about this ever since you brought it up at our last meeting."

Mark bounced in his seat, leaning into his co-host's space with a charming smile. Carmen laughed, smacking the man lightly over the head with her embossed cue cards.

"Get out of my space, Radwell," she teased before turning back to the audience. "So this might be a treat for you basketball fans out there."

Kuroko perked up, showing the first signs of interest in the show he's had in the months that Kagami had been putting it on for background noise in the morning.

"NBA's hottest rookie, in both the physical and metaphorical sense, Taiga "Tiger" Kagami was seen out and about recently. And no, Radwell, before you get cheeky, it wasn’t at his usual haunts: the gym or the grocery store."

Kagami stopped mid chew, the half eaten food in his mouth threatening to vacate the area. This was the first time he was being mentioned on television outside of ESPN and it had to be on the one show he loathed above all else. Kuroko looked at him with dimly concealed disgust.

"She called you hot, Taiga," he deadpanned, shutting his open mouth with a finger.

Kagami swallowed before glaring, flicking a stray Cheerio at Kuroko. They both turned back to the TV, insanely curious about what they had to say.

"And if you don't know who Taiga is, have you been living under a rock?" interjected Mark. "His popularity has exploded recently when his large donations and personal efforts for animal shelters and other various charities came out through social media. Who doesn't love a guy who's not only generous, kind, and talented, but also loves animals?"

The screen behind the two hosts displayed a picture of Kagami cradling a kitten and the audience "awh-ed" in unison. It flashed through a few more pictures of Kagami with small animals, each one garnering genuine coos of adoration from the viewers. Kagami tried to stop the flush crawling up his neck but by the amused glance that Kuroko was throwing his way, it wasn't successful.

"Adorable, right?" Mark said with a grin. "Our stage manager is a big fan."

The camera panned to the blushing woman in question, who hid her face behind a messy clipboard. The camera moved back to showing the wooden grins on their faces. It switched back to a tighter shot of Carmen, who lifted a pen to wag as if to scold the audience.

"Now stay with me kids, Mama's got some bad news. Don't let those adorable photos of kittens and hot basketball players fool you! It seems that Taiga might not be the perfect man we all think he is. In fact, Mr. Perfect might end up being yet another Mr. Playboy. Don't believe me? Check out this sizzling exclusive snapshot!"

Kagami and Kuroko's usually quiet mornings became dead silent in that one moment. They looked at each other with stunned, blank (or in Kuroko's case, blanker) eyes. On the screen was a dark, grainy image of Kagami leaning back in one of the many plush couches in the VIP section of the club they were partying in last night. It looked rather unremarkable at first a side view shot of a grinning Kagami nursing a rum and coke, holding it up to toast Marcelo who was half way through an obnoxious whoop. But looking closer, one could see that perched on Kagami's lap was a smiling and visibly inebriated Kuroko. His arms were wound around Kagami's neck, hugging his head to a thin chest. One hand was draped casually over Kagami's shoulder and the other held a tall glass of Long Island iced tea, toasting a shadowed figure beside the couple - probably another one of Kagami's teammates. Kagami's arm was curled around Kuroko's waist to keep him from toppling over, gripping tight at a small thigh. It was actually a rather fun and flattering picture had it been privately sent from a friend and not plastered onto the televisions of the millions of people who watched the show.

"So is he just a piece on the side? Friends with benefits? Maybe he's just a groupie or fan that got lucky that night - who knows? Actually, whoever has information about this mystery man, come forward!" Mark announced, only half joking. "Our contact information is on our Twitter - not that you need it, you probably already follow us, right?"

Carmen chuckled before turning the camera one last time.

"For all you heartbroken fans, don't spend all day attached to your phone or laptop. That's just not healthy! KKT News will be on in a few. See you guys again tomorrow morning!"

The two waved before getting up and personally greeting their audience, not realizing that they had systematically destroyed the first peaceful morning Kagami and Kuroko had together in months. Kuroko made a small noise of affirmation.

"Well, that was interesting." he said blandly, getting up to put his empty bowl in the sink.

Kagami turned stiffly to stare at Kuroko's busy back. "Interesting" was definitely a word to describe what just had transpired. Not the right one, but definitely a word. There were many more appropriate words that Kagami wanted to shout out and scream at that moment, but instead he settled for three.

"What the fuck?!" he bellowed, getting up from his chair sharply, overturning his nearly empty bowl of milk in his sudden movement.

Nigou woke from his nap in the corner of the kitchen immediately and started barking, reacting and attuning to the mood of his master instantaneously. There was never a proper time for a twenty three year old to throw a tantrum, but this was pushing pretty close.

"Language," Kuroko remarked blasé, finally turning around from washing dishes.  

"Don't, Tetsuya," Kagami growled, pacing around and looking for his missing phone. "That was a private party last night!"

Kuroko opted to stay silent, fiddling around with their dirty dishes and swiftly cleaning the spill. Kagami wrenched his phone out of his discarded pants, left in the living room from when they couldn't wait to get to the bedroom after the party last night. He angrily punched in Marcelo's number, uncaring of the fact that he was probably waking up his extremely hungover teammate.

_"... 'llo?"_

Marcelo sounded sleepy and confused.

"Marcelo," Kagami said tightly. "Give me the guest list from last night."

_"What? Taiga? Why are you calling me so early?"_

Kagami breathed through his nose harshly and, too antsy to just stand still, stomped back into the kitchen to watch Kuroko clean, the tense line of his shoulders not easing up one bit.

"Marcelo," he said shortly through gritted teeth. "I need that guest list. Now."

 _"Is everything okay?"_   Marcelo sounded more awake, a bit of concerned panic bleeding into his voice. _"Are you and Kuro okay?"_

Kagami sighed, irritated and impatient. Kuroko looked at him, seemingly expressionless but Kagami, after nearly eight years together, could easily see the hint of apprehension and worry in his eyes. And that was what pissed Kagami off the most. Kuroko was an extremely private person and Kagami deeply respected that. When he started gaining a modicum of fame, they both decided early on that Kuroko wouldn't be known as Kagami's boyfriend just in case some pushy paparazzi decided to invade their private space for some money.

It had worked for the last two years, Kuroko's already low presence (though it had lessened in the advancing years) was deliberately diminished further if ever he was in public with his boyfriend. The only people who knew about their relationship were friends and family, the fact that now thousands of people knew about them, (despite the fact they had the wrong idea) was disconcerting, mildly put.

"Someone was at that party last night that shouldn't have been," Kagami snarled. "And they fucked with the wrong person."

"Taiga," Kuroko finally spoke, exasperated. "Please calm down."

"Tetsuya," Kagami replied, thoroughly exasperated himself. "I know you're pissed off and... overwhelmed. You don't have be the face of calm every time, just... Just let me do this, okay?"

Kagami refrained from using the word 'scared' knowing that it would only cause more trouble. Kuroko would have been determined to prove him wrong and do something reckless - the exact opposite of what Kagami wanted. There was a stubborn line in Kuroko's jaw that said he was still displeased with how he was acting, but he gestured for Kagami to continue his call.

_"-ga! Taiga! Is everything okay? I got the list and everything. Holy shit man, I went to sleep at 5AM absolutely shitfaced so I'm basically still drunk, but I'm awake now and I'm ready to help you guys with whatever. You know I'll always have your back man, so if you need to kill somebo-.."_

"Thank you Marcelo," Kuroko interrupted, voice pitched louder to be heard of drunken rambles. "But Taiga was overreacting a bit. Remember to drink a glass of water before you go back to sleep, please."

_"Kuro! Please don't leave me out of this! Was- was it something I did? Tell me so I can fix it!"_

Kagami felt a stab of guilt go through him as Marcelo sounded more and more desperate. The situation really wasn't his fault, and after all, Marcelo had planned and executed a year's worth of amazing parties with no fuck ups, so this must have been a genuine mistake. Kagami sighed, feeling most of the anger drain out of him.

"No, no. It's just... Someone at the party took a picture of me and Tetsuya last night and well, while it's not incriminating, it's pretty intimate and some crap morning show talk show got a hold of it." Kagami paused to pat a confused looking Nigou on the head comfortingly. "That already pisses me off, but then they had to go and start talking shit about Tetsuya like he's some fling or one night stand."

 _"What the fuck."_ Marcelo growled out.

There was some rustling and loud clatters coming from Marcelo's side of the call. There was a loud thump, a muffled curse and an irritated sounding meow before Marcelo came back, sounding winded, but no less angry than before.

“ _The show who got the picture, was it the one you hate with those creepy smiling fuckers?”_ he asked, voice tinny like he was far from his phone.

"Yeah man, it was.” Kagami replied, still ticked off and feeling like he needed to do something. “But that’s not even the worst part, they started a fucking manhunt for him! Asking their viewers to come forward with information about him like he's America's most wanted or something. Who the fuck does that?!"

“ _Dude, some of the team just texted me about it. Apparently, some other shit gossip shows are contacting them for information about Kuro.”_

The fiery rage settled into something very cold in the center of his chest. Kagami gripped at his phone hard enough that he could hear the creak of the plastic case giving out before expelling a harsh breath. He distantly felt Kuroko’s hand settling in the middle of his back and rubbing in lazy circles, obviously trying to comfort him. And that was just like him - trying to fix something even if his own life was spiraling out of control all the same.

It was a shit show and a half trying to contact his teammates and agent, to get his word in before someone inevitably opened their mouth and said something that he didn’t want out there. Lord knows that his agent was going to make a spectacle of this, he was always dissatisfied that Kagami preferred to stay out of the spotlight. He rarely left their modest little home for more than groceries, the gym and occasionally eating out with Kuroko and any of their friends. Kagami had always been too lazy and pragmatic to attend any red carpet events and his post game interviews were always brief and to the point, almost cold and terse if he wasn’t unfailingly polite – something Kuroko worked years to cultivate.

It wasn’t arrogant to assume that this was going to blow up everywhere, after all, he hadn’t come out as gay to the public yet and being a part of a handful of openly gay NBA players was always big news. He never felt that it was something necessary to discuss and Kuroko agreed; his family and teammates accepted him with open arms, what else mattered?

“ _Do you need me to come over and bring you guys something to eat? I’d guess you wouldn’t want to leave your house today.”_

Kuroko, who was cuddled up on his side absently playing with Kagami’s hands, jolted and shook his head firmly, urging Kagami to refuse. Kagami only barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes; his friends wouldn’t mind doing something as small bring lunch in later but to Kuroko it was as if they were going to go out of their way to pander to them.

“Yeah man, that’d be awesome. I owe you one. See you later?”

“ _I’ll be there at one! See you, man.”_

There was a click as Marcelo finally hung up after hours of staying on the phone with him.

Kuroko frowned at him disapprovingly, but Kagami only leaned in to kiss it away and smooth the worried lines growing on Kuroko’s forehead.

“It’s going to be okay, Tetsuya. Please let me handle this.”

There were several beats of silence before Kuroko finally nodded, slowly and deliberately making eye contact with Kagami.

“Fine, but please do not do anything irrational.”

* * *

The look that Kuroko was shooting at him from across the room screamed “this is exactly what I meant by irrational”, but Kagami couldn’t make a pleading face back at him with a million cameras and story-hungry reporters in front of him. They’d eat up every perceived emotion or twitch and craft an unbelievable story of it if he wasn’t careful.

After hosting a post-party lunch with a majority of his hungover teammates, who all looked as murderous as Kagami felt, they came to the easy conclusion of just letting it die down. Which Kagami was all for, at least until the very same annoying morning talk show that broke his peaceful life insinuated that his silence meant guilt, that it meant shame and that this was something that he intended to sweep under the rug.

And he could take a lot of things, but anyone questioning his love and feelings for Kuroko – something he had spent a majority of high school trying to convince Kuroko’s miracle friends of – was something that he couldn’t stomach. And so here he was of his own volition, to the sobbing happiness of his agent, at a press conference to finally shut this entire situation down. He had underestimated the amount of people that would care though, as the room was packed with cameras and microphones and reporters.

‘Must be a slow news day,’ he snorted to himself derisively.

He took a breath, took a final look at Kuroko who was still visibly displeased, and his agent who was begging with his eyes for him not to be the abrasive and crass person that they all knew he was, and spoke.

“My private life is not a news opportunity or something to make money off of. If I ever find out who took that picture of me and my partner, without our express consent, I’m going to fuck you up. I’ll take questions now.”

The room was silent for a moment before bursting into a cacophony of noise and voices. Kagami didn’t need to look at his agent to know that he was probably crying into his hands at the sheer PR disaster that Kagami, time and time again, proved to be. He was too afraid to steal a glance at Kuroko though, and prayed to everything good and holy that wasn’t going to get kicked out of their house tonight. He nodded at a calm looking man at the front of the room, clearing his mind of worries for now.

“Why the secrecy?” he asked promptly, without preamble. “Are you closeted?”

He regretted letting him go first now, just for the sheer insensitivity in the questions posed.

“My partner is a very private person and we both prefer to stay outside the spotlight. It wasn’t secrecy, it was precaution. And those who know of our relationship are people that are important to us.”

The caustic ‘and that doesn’t include any of you’ was left off but felt in the quiet hostility of his answer. The man swallowed back another inquiry at his dark look, realizing a little too late that he may have stepped over the line. Questions continued in a more subdued manner compared to the initial start and Kagami almost jumped for joy when they came to the final minutes of it.

“Will anything change in your routine now that you aren’t actively hiding away your partner? How does it feel to be a part of the few openly gay NBA players?”

Irritation swelled and Kagami couldn’t stop himself from giving one more snarky answer to go.

“Nothing changes because I never hid my partner from anyone. We’re both homebodies and hate the limelight, so fuck off with those assumptions. And I feel like a fucking zoo animal with people peering at me and my perceived label and then moving on when they’re done being awed and amused. Thank you, no more questions.”

There were shouts of protest as he stepped off the raised stage with a purposeful stride. Kuroko had disappeared with the exodus that exited once he was done – eager to get all of the event down and posted. He ignored any lingering people with a curt ‘no more questions’ and a frigid look. He left the room with a sigh of relief, anger draining out of him and plopped down onto the private room couch. The door opened and shut with a slam, and booted feet stomped over to him. He opened his eyes and grimaced. His agent had a look of cheerful murder on his face, and he gripped at Kagami’s shoulders with a strength that he didn’t know he had and began shaking him in infuriated glee – Kagami was grudgingly impressed.

“You little shit, you love giving me ulcers don’t you?”

“Only for you, Suarez,” Kagami replied. “So…. On a scale from one to I am no longer allowed home, how pissed is he right now?”

Suarez rolled his eyes, flapping a hand at a ticked off Kuroko standing in the corner. Kagami jumped and hissed slowly through his teeth, even after all these years Kuroko still had the ability to scare the living piss out of him. It didn’t look good however, as Kagami could almost see the rolling miasma of displeasure surrounding him.

“Six feet under pissed, dude. Good luck.”

And with that, he hightailed it out of the room with zero sympathy – the coward. Kagami steeled himself and turned to his ticked off boyfriend. He was also painfully aware of the vindictively gleeful faces of his teammates just outside the door, watching these proceedings with anticipation through the tiny window. God, he hated them sometimes.

“Baby?” he started unsure, holding out his arms and approaching Kuroko cautiously. “Honey? Darling? Muffin? Sugar bear? Love of my life? Apple of my eye? Oh, benevolent keeper of my heart?”

He heard exaggerated gagging behind him, but fuck it, he only had humor and a small chance of making Kuroko laugh instead of getting gut punched. They wouldn’t understand. Sadly, the cutesy, sickening names did nothing to endear him to Kuroko and instead the shroud of anger just grew in size and intensity. Kuroko said nothing for minutes, watching Kagami squirm in place , making him feel like a high school student getting caught passing notes again.

“I did say not to do anything irrational, didn’t I?” Kuroko started, voice soft but severe. “Do you think this is rational?”

Kuroko became an unholy combination of disappointed parent, angry boyfriend and annoyed teacher whenever he found Kagami fucking up. It was possibly the worst thing he ever had to go through, and because of those dumb ass talk show hosts he had to suffer again. Kuroko’s eyes promised murder if he answer wasn’t a fervent ‘no’.

“No?” Kagami replied, voice a little squeaky. “I mean, no. It’s not…?”

Kuroko maintained his stare for another tense couple of minutes, in which, Kagami was sure he was going to die. In the end though, Kuroko rolled his eyes and stalked over only to pull Kagami down by his shirt collar to press a long kiss against his mouth. Kagami was confused but entirely too enthusiastic in returning the kiss, licking into Kuroko’s hot mouth with bewildered enthusiasm. Kuroko broke the kiss a moment later and pressed a few more kisses along the line of his jaw.

“Although I am mad, I know you did all this just to defend me. It’s…. sweet, and reminds me of why I love you so much.” Kuroko whispered, face serious but eyes warm. “Thank you Taiga.”

Kagami felt his face get hot, still shy and easily riled up even after all these years. He scoffed, something catching in his throat for a moment, to his added humiliation.

“Like I’ll let those fuckers get away with saying that shit about you.”

The anger surged again, but he tamped it down with a last growl. His face softened and relaxed with fond exasperation when Kuroko slapped at his chest lightly.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll stop getting pissed off so easily – I got it, Tetsuya.” he said with a rueful smile. “I love you too, let’s go home.”


	2. grocery woes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kagami can't ever catch a break - grocery shopping has never been so annoying tbh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _sorry i’m a slow piece of shit there’s so many things so little time to explain i’ll try and update more regularly again i’m so sorry_
> 
> imagine me singing off key thank
> 
> so yeah um, sorry for being gone for an entire year that wasn't cool of me.........

 

Paparazzi were the literal worst thing in the world. Kagami frowned as another asshole with a camera tried to be subtle in his unrelenting photographing of him. Trying to pick out green peppers at his local super market had never been more difficult and god damn it, he didn’t even like green peppers. The scowl on his face deepened to an even larger degree when the clicks became near frantic at the sight of Kuroko coming back with a jar of peanut butter in hand. He didn’t notice though, still sleepy eyed and rumpled at six am in the morning so they could avoid the crowds. Kagami threw a strong arm around Kuroko, pulling his hood on tighter and practically enveloping him in his body to hide him from prying eyes.

It had been a handful of weeks after the press conference that broke their peaceful lives. After the terse and tense manner that Kagami presented himself, his image changed from post-graduate Nice Guy to NBA’s bad boy practically overnight – something that made him throw up in his mouth a little. So his vocabulary ran a little foul when he was pissed, that didn’t make him a fucking delinquent.

And if that wasn’t enough, it also gave paparazzi self delegated free reign to harass him even more than usual. Back when he was just a talented rookie, sure, he had attention but now, it had tripled. He couldn’t even go out for a night run without a bunch of dudes trying to run alongside him, trying and failing to keep up. The only upside was that he somehow, by an act of god, managed to keep any more photos of Kuroko from getting out for public consumption – a catch 22, to be frank, because the more he kept him away, the more rabid they became. The paltry few photos that paps did get were shitty, to say the least. Blurry, usually, and ultimately useless when Kuroko was already in the habit of wearing a mask and huge sunglasses to deal with the L.A. smog and sun.

Kise had already sent him an obnoxious amount of links to whole blogs dedicated to them and was currently lapping up the attention that he got from saying that he was actually a good friend of Kagami and his boyfriend. Which, in Kagami’s opinion, was totally fucked – he was already a celebrity in his own right, why did he need anymore attention?!

Kuroko tugged at his sleeve, muffling a full bodied yawn in his sweater sleeves, almost stumbling afterward. He caught himself using Kagami’s shirt as support and pointed lazily at a giant bag of dog food, Nigou’s favorite. Kagami rolled his eyes before crouching and hefting the bag over his shoulder. While Nigou growing bigger than expected was a happy surprise (in Kuroko’s eyes at least), it came with an almost identical appetite to Kagami’s. Forget rent and credit card bills, Nigou was going to eat them out of house and home.

“I thought we bought a bag a week ago?” Kagami grunted, sliding the bag under the cart.

“No, it was three weeks ago, and remember? We’re all out. He got into the bag and ate the last of it when we went to the mall the other day. That’s why he’s on his diet now.” Kuroko replied sleepy and still clinging to Kagami.

Kagami snorted, continually baffled by the fact that even dogs had to be put on diets, and led them over the dairy aisle.

“I don’t see why it was such a big issue. Nigou is huge and he needs all the food he can get so he can terrorize Aomine the next time he comes and visits.”

Kagami jumped and cursed when Kuroko jabbed his side, frowning disapprovingly.

“Nigou is a good boy. He never tried to chase Aomine-kun out of the house until you went and trained him to do it.” Kuroko said accusingly, though his eyes were alight with amusement.

Kagami pouted, probably looking ridiculous as he did so.

“Hey, those are just Nigou’s natural protective instincts. I just helped it along.”

“And why is it only Aomine-kun that he tries to keep out of our home?”

Nigou certainly didn’t have a problem with anyone else.

“Because even Nigou knows that Aomine is a dickwad.”

It was Kuroko’s turn to pout, lower lip shiny and tempting even in the shitty fluorescent light of the grocery store. The oversized hood did nothing to detract from the pretty sight and Kagami almost forgot where they were as he tilted Kuroko’s head back to give him a quick kiss. Kuroko’s hands came up to clasp at his hoodie’s drawstrings to drag him back down for a longer and decidedly less chaste kiss. And even after so many years, Kagami still relished and immersed himself in Kuroko’s kisses – even with the domesticity and familiarity they gave off in droves, touching the man he loved was always a novel experience.

It was less sweet then, when they both became aware of the sound of shutters going off rapidly, taking pictures of their usual morning exchange. Kagami scowled against Kuroko’s mouth, trying to ignore the world to press his lips against Kuroko’s again. Kuroko gently pushed him away though, and in apparent embarrassment tried to fix himself as if he was disheveled by a ten second kiss. Kagami was furious.

A great big welling of anger started pooling in his chest – his boyfriend shouldn’t have to feel mortified or ashamed for kissing him in public. And none of the vultures that were surrounding them had the right to make him feel as awful and red faced as he looked. Kuroko leveled him a serious look, already reading the heavy expression on his face.

“Taiga,” he said under his breath. “Don’t do anything _I’ll_ regret.”

Kagami scoffed, throwing his arm over Kuroko’s slighter shoulders again.

“I’m not a child,” he insisted, steering them over to the cereal aisle gently. “I can control myself.”

Kagami could feel Kuroko’s doubt radiating off of his body.

“If you can control yourself, can you please stop trying to mangle my shoulder?” Kuroko deadpanned, pinching Kagami’s hand with deceptively strong fingers.

Kagami winced but smoothed out his death grip on Kuroko and held him more gently, reading over the back of a way too sugary cereal box, seemingly oblivious to the hoard that had followed them doggedly. With a sigh, he considered just getting his groceries delivered to him next time – it would certainly save him a lot of grief.

* * *

That night, a photo of their kiss was plastered on every media platform possible. Kagami was mortified to an entirely new level as several photos cropped up at so many different angles. If he was being honest, there was something gratifying about seeing articles and tweets talking about how their relationship was one that everyone was striving for in life. They had so many ups and downs and near misses that, previously, it seemed almost impossible to get to the point that they were at now. At one time, it almost ended – something Kagami still loathed to even think about now. But they pulled through and made it whole and intact, and that single kiss at a random grocery store at a god forsaken hour spoke volumes of their history.

No paparazzi could ever take that away from him, and for that, Kagami was thankful.

Arms wrapped around his neck as he sat on the couch, frowning at the television thoughtfully, belly full of Kuroko’s latest attempts at cooking. He was slowly but surely getting there, Kagami only had to step in five times to save the dish compared to the usual ten. Kuroko kissed him on the temple and massaged his shoulders almost absentmindedly.

“Your mother just called,” he said, chin resting on top of Kagami’s head. “She’s sending us a framed copy of that picture.”

“Oh my god.”

“I think it’s rather sweet.”

Kagami scoffed, smiling despite himself. His mom was always so weird, of course she’d pull something like this.

And knowing Kuroko, he would actually keep it.

“Of course you do,” he sighed, turning his head to nip at Kuroko’s jaw. “Just don’t put it anywhere obvious. She’s already sent and put up so many photos up of the two of us and Nigou, people are gonna think we’re narcissistic.”

Kuroko settled his chin on Kagami’s forehead and squished his cheeks together so that his lips puffed out. Kagami attempted a frown but he only looked more comical, evidenced by Kuroko’s quiet laugh.

“Those are family portraits Taiga,” he reprimanded. “It’s not narcissistic, it’s loving and makes this overly large palace seem more like a home.”

Kagami huffed and was barely audible as he tried speaking through his squished cheeks.

“Don’t tell me you’re still upset about the house.”

“I’m just being practical. The two bedroom apartment was cozy and nice – it was as close to perfect as it was getting to get for a starter home.”

“It was also in a really dangerous area. I wasn’t going to leave you alone for weeks at a time with no one here to help you. What if, – God forbid – something terrible happened while I was gone?” Kagami turned around to face Kuroko, taking his face in his hands. “I know you get lonely when I’m gone, but I’d rather have you upset with me than in danger.”

It was the most candid he had been about this ongoing issue and that certainly got across to Kuroko, whose face went through a myriad of emotions before settling between begrudging acceptance and frustration. It was an adorable mix.

“While I appreciate your concern, I’m capable of looking out for myself. And Nigou is never too far from where I am.” Kuroko soothed, even though Kagami had already won this argument, considering they were in the home that he chose instead of the apartment. He made his way around the couch to sit next to Kagami placatingly rubbing at his sides.

“But neither of you should have to be on the lookout like that – please just let me take care of you. This is how I can sleep at night when we’re apart.”

Kuroko gave him a lingering, searching look before melting at his side.

“You are far more devious than I’d like to admit.”

Kagami grinned, bright and open, and laughed.

“I gotta keep you on your toes somehow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had a lot of this done but i forgot where i was headed with this so i guess we're just Winging it from here on out kids 
> 
> love y'all for sticking with me

**Author's Note:**

> i started writing this a year ago...........boy, am i slow or what; barely edited like usual so point out any mistakes you pick up on please!
> 
> also my deepest apologies for all the unfinished fics floating around - i'll get to them eventually


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